Fascination
by usagisama7874
Summary: High school AU, theifshipping. Bakura is the secretly homeless kid that everyone is afraid of. He doesn't talk to anyone, doesn't have any friends...until the new kid shows up. When Marik transfers into his class, what will happen? Hate, or friendship? (Well, I already labeled it theifshipping, so you can probably guess.)
1. Encounter

Just to be clear, Marik is Marik Ishtar, the hikari. Bakura is Yami Bakura.

**Bakura POV**

Beep….beep…beep…

Hearing the alarm clock ring, I groaned, and sat up in my makeshift bed. I yawned, stretched, and then I was awake. And the first thing I noticed was that my father wasn't home. If you could call this a house.

My family, which is really just my father and I, had never had a lot of money. And Dad always spent all the money we got on alcohol or cigarettes or whores. It was amazing that we even had enough to send me to school. Of course, I had a job. Anyway, this resulted in us losing our tiny apartment last month, left to live on our own. Which is why I had to work, because once I was legal and had enough money-no, screw being legal-once I had enough money, I was going to buy my own house. I hated the job, I hated working, hell, I hated pretty much everything except cigarettes and stealing. But I was determined to get out of this goddamned excuse for a house. Right now, we were living in an abandoned warehouse. Talk about cliché. Of course, this place doesn't have any electricity, so no heating. I had a cell phone, which served as my alarm for school. I had gotten the phone before we really got broke, before Mom died and Dad lost his job….before I started stealing. I loved it, the rush of adrenaline when you realized you got away with it…which I did every time, of course. I was a master, no one could even think of catching me.

I didn't spend too much time thinking about my father's absence, he was probably off drunk in someone's house. Pulling my self out of bed, I slipped on some clean clothes, and rummaged through one of our suitcases until I found something decent to eat. I chewed the whatever-it-was slowly, wanting to enjoy my time alone. Normally, I would rush out of the house, not wanting to spend another second with my drunken, abusive father. So I had never been late for school in my life. Not once, as much as I hated it. All the teachers hated me, and I haven't gotten a single A in my life. Or anything above a C, for that matter. I really only went anymore so that I wouldn't be lying around the house all day. One thing I couldn't stand, more than anything, was useless people. If all you're going to do is lie around and have sex and get drunk, then you're better off dead. I probably only thought this way because it's what my father is, and what I had almost become. So when I finished my mystery object breakfast, I grabbed my abused looking books, and headed out the door.

I reached the school just as the last bell was ringing. I didn't stop at my locker, just went straight to homeroom, and took my seat, all the way in the back. Secluded from everyone else, the way I liked it. I watched all the students around me, all smiling, all happy. All talking about some nonsense. They're all stupid, this school is stupid. The whole fucking world is just stupid. The class fell silent when our homeroom teacher, Miss Hana-something or other, entered the room. "Alright class." I hate her voice. She makes it sound like nothing was wrong. Like the classroom was a happy place.

What a fucking lie.

"Today, we have a new student. His name is Marik Ishtar." I sat up a little in my seat, now I was interested. The chances were that this guy would turn out to be just another oblivious classmate, but there was a possibility he could be alright. The teacher walked over to the door, and let the kid in.

And at that moment, I completely stopped functioning.

The boy was astoundingly beautiful.

You could've mistaken him for a girl. He had blond hair, it looked almost golden, that fell slightly past his shoulders. He had tanned skin, which was absolutely flawless. He was wearing a purple T-shirt, and black cargo pants. He was even wearing fucking _earrings_. The only thing that was in any way masculine was his arms. They looked strong, you could see his muscles. But not in a repulsive, bulgy Dragonball way. But beside all that, the strangest thing about his appearance was his eyes: they were purple. I had never, not once in my life, seen anyone with purple eyes. "Marik, do you want to say anything about yourself?" I held my breath, waiting for him to speak. When he opened his mouth, I could see that his teeth are as white as my hair. "Hi. There's no point in me introducing myself, since you already know my name." I held back a laugh. This guy had attitude. "All I really have to say is that I moved here from Egypt." He was from over seas? His Japanese was pretty impressive…

He turned to the teacher. "Miss Hanazono, right?" Ah, so that was her name. "Where should I sit?" She consoled to her seating chart before placing him-guess where? Right in front of me. Granted, it was the only seat open, but still….

I saw this as my chance to talk to him, so I tapped him on the back. He twisted around in his chair. "I'm Bakura." I wasn't smiling when I said it. "Listen, don't get the wrong idea. I don't want to be friends with you." He smirked.

The damn punk actually smirked at me.

"Right. Bakura. I'll remember that. Can I ask you a question?"

"What?"

"If you don't want to be friends, then why did you tell me your name?"

….

It was a good question. Why _did_ I talk to him? I guess it's because…

"Because you fascinate me." Then the bell rang, and I jumped out of my seat quickly and walked out of the room. But I could still feel him staring at me.

For the next three painstakingly slow periods, all I could think of was Marik. I guess I hadn't been lying when I said that he fascinated me. His attitude this morning wasn't exactly like mine. I have that 'Don't fuck with me' attitude, but his was more like…'I'm better than you and I'm not afraid to show it.' Since I was too busy thinking about Marik, I didn't notice when the Chemistry teacher started talking, not that I would have anyway. But he caught my attention when he said "Alright class, this is our new student, Marik Ishtar. He just moved here from Egypt. So, where to put you…" And that's when I realized – I'm the only one who didn't have a lab partner. "Alright Marik, I guess I'll put you next to Bakura." Apparently, he hasn't noticed that I was in the room yet, because when the teacher said my name, his eyes snapped up and met mine. And then, he had that goddamn annoying smirk on his face again. But this time it was was different. He looked more amused, or something.

He walked up the middle aisle and sat down next to me, and his books made a dull thud when they hit the desk. "So Bakura, it looks like we meet again."

"…"

I stayed quiet, staring straight ahead. Of course, I wasn't paying any attention to the teacher's instructions or the assignment he was giving us, so I was surprised when a beaker and several vials of liquid were placed down on the desk next to me.

"Do you want to do it?" I realized it was me Marik was talking to, and turned to face him.

"…"

Seeing the blank look on my face, Marik sighed. "Just pour the clear liquid into the beaker."

Dammit! Who does this guy think he is? "Tch. Like I need any help from you." I quickly reached for the vial closest to me, and started to pour it in….

….but then Marik tackled me.

He pushed me off my stool, throwing us both to the ground, and the beaker went flying from my hand. On instinct, I wrapped my arms around him. Then, everything seemed to slow down. Off in the distance, I could hear the sound off glass shattering, and people talking in loud voices. But I wasn't really concentrating on any of that. Because Marik was on top of me, staring with a face I watched change from anger to mild surprise. And then the next thing I realized was that in about five inches, the back of my head was going to collide with the hard tile floor. I guess Marik noticed this the same time I did, because he removed his arms from around my waist, where he had grabbed me, and wrapped them around my neck, pressing my face into the crook of his neck. All of this happened in about 5 seconds.

And then my body collided with the floor, and I gasped a little when Marik's body collided with mine, knocking the breath out of me. And then I felt – holy fuck, I felt something hard pressing against my thigh. So here we were, two boys lying on the ground their arms wrapped around each other, with Marik's fucking _erection_ pressing up against my fucking _leg_. But he was still staring at me, just like I had been staring at him the entire time. I felt like I could stay there forever, just staring into his gorgeous purple eyes. But then students started crowding around us, saying things like "Are you OK?" and "What happened?" Marik pushed himself off me, and said we were both fine, everything was fine. And I heard the teacher say that it was a good thing Marik had pushed me-otherwise, the chemical I had almost poured into the beaker could've blown up the whole room. And through all this, Marik was still telling people that it was fine, everything was OK.

What a fucking liar.

* * *

While I was writing this, I was actually sitting in science class, so I kept looking at the ground, trying to figure out how far the fall would be, how long it would last, stuff like that. And my friend who read this thinks Bakura says fuck a lot…does he? I didn't think so…

Anyway…

What did you guys think? Review? Please?


	2. Contact

So here it is…I just realized I forgot to put a disclaimer in! OH NOES!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh. Or any of the characters. There. That good enough?

Oh, and this story will always be Bakura POV. I promise. I'm just not gonna write that at the top of every

page.

* * *

I walked to lunch still in a daze.

After the incident in Science class, the lesson continued without any more problems. The only thing was, Marik didn't talk to me for the rest of the period. What the hell? So, thoroughly pissed off, I grabbed the meatiest thing there was in the cafeteria line, and sat down at my usual table in the back, alone. The way I liked it.

Or at least, I was alone, until a certain blond decided to drop his tray on the table and sit down across from me.  
Fucking. Hell.

I glared at him. "What the hell are you doing at my table?"

"I don't know anyone else."

So go sit by yourself.

"And, um, I wanted to apologize. You know, for pushing you." He looked away, apparently unable to meet my eyes. I could've _sworn_ he was blushing. It was almost cute.

"It's fine." He turned back to me. "Oh. Ok."

"I mean, what are you apologizing for anyway? You saved me from killing everybody. "

"I guess you're right." He smirked. "That was pretty stupid of you." Hahaha, he was not getting away with that. "But Marik, what I really want to know is why you had a boner." The next few seconds were really quite funny to watch. Marik's eyes widened, his mouth fell open, and his face turned redder than it was before.

"I-it wasn't – I didn't-" While Marik struggled to find something to say, I simply gazed at him, amused. "Yes, you did. I felt it. So tell me Marik," I laughed. "Do I turn you on?" With that, he lost it. "Wh- No! Are you fucking insane, what the hell?-" But he cut himself off, and threw an angry gaze at me before standing up. Oh, no. He wasn't going anywhere. Wait, I don't want him to go...? I pushed the thought into a corner of my head, and grabbed his arm before he could reach the doors. "Hold on. You don't have to leave, I was only kidding. Learn to take a joke" He hesitated, but eventually sat down again.

. . .

Silence.

The silence was unbearable.

In desperation to say something, I said "What class do you have next?" He looked up from his food. "Gym."

I laughed. I couldn't help it. Marik apparently thought this was irritating. "What?" he snapped.

"That's my next class, too."

He mouth dropped again. "You're kidding." I snorted. "Nope." He groaned. "Great. Another class with you." I smirked. "You know you like it." He rolled his eyes. "You wish." I smiled; I already knew what I was going to say.

"Maybe you don't think you do, but your dick tells me differently."

And still smirking, I walked away, leaving him gaping at the table.

I was starting to regret leaving lunch so early. There was no place for me to go until….

Oh, wait.

There was one place I could go.

I found it last year, the first day of high school. The teachers had been pissing me off so I bolted right out the door and to the back of the school.

Nobody chased after me, of course.

Behind the school were woods that went on for a couple miles, and I had wondered in a little, when I found a small clearing. And in that little field was a mattress.

Just a mattress, sitting in the middle of the forest. I had no idea where it had come from, and didn't particularly care. I had claimed it as mine.

I laid there for a while, trying to think of absolutely nothing, especially Marik…

And failing miserably.

Dammit! I came here to get away from him, not to think about him more! Why can't I control my own thoughts? Well, I might as well get it over with. I'll decide what I think about him right here and then I'll never have to come back to it again. I don't hate him…he just pisses me off. But it was fun to mess with him. I suppose I wouldn't mind spending more time with him…

So then…I wanted to be friends?

Tch. Me, Bakura, wanting friendship. What's the world coming to? I had never wanted to even communicate with other people before, not even my own father. Although, that was for different reasons…But what was so different about Marik that would make me want to be near him? He wasn't even nice or anything. Sure, he was probably the most attractive person I've ever met, but…what does that have to do with anything? And then there was his attitude. He wasn't mean, just extremely aggravating. And fun to pick on. He also had the balls to talk to me, which was more than I could say for most of the kids in our class. If I had talked to anyone else like that on their first day at a new school, they probably wouldn't have even given me another glance. Most people are too intimidated by my appearance to say anything to me, even if they don't know me. I mean, how many guys have long white hair?

So that was it then. We weren't friends yet, but we were going to be. Especially if Marik keeps hanging around me like this. Speaking of him, we had gym class. And I did not want to miss Marik getting changed.

I wanted to hit someone.

I was in the locker room, and Marik hadn't showed up yet. But there were the usual idiots, who decided it would be funny to tease me about my skin. I had always been pale, and I had always gotten crap for it. But honestly, the "albino" joke was getting old. Seriously guys, if you're going to make fun of me, at least try to be a little original. Of course, these guys probably didn't have enough brain cells for that.

And then, finally, Marik walked in. "Hey." I expected some kind of greeting back, but all I got was…nothing. He didn't even meet my eyes. Was he seriously that upset over the lunch thing? Maybe I went a little too far, but he didn't have to give me the silent treatment. We had assigned lockers, and of course his was only three away from mine. And the lockers in between ours weren't being used by anyone in the class, so I had full view of him. So of course, it was only natural to look while he got changed, right? It wasn't even that big of a deal. I have to stare at all these other guys' bodies every day, so why not choose to look at someone ten times more attractive than they were?

My eyes traced over his tan skin, the flat stomach, the well defined muscles in his legs…

I guess he didn't catch me looking, because he didn't say anything. He kept silent right until the end of class, after everyone had left. And I had molested him with my eyes again.

"Bakura." My eyes immediately went to his. When he saw that I was paying attention, he continued. "Do you have a car?" I laughed.

"Nope."

"Oh. Well, then…" He sounded extremely uncomfortable with whatever he was about to say to me.

"Just spit it out.

"Can you walk me home?" His face flushed. "Because I don't know my way around yet, since we just got here…"

Now, you'd think my immediate reaction would for me to be happy, right? Glad that he wants to spend time with me, and all that. Well, it was the total opposite. I was _pissed_.

So, naturally, I started yelling.

"What the hell? You think you can just ignore someone for a whole hour, and then ask them a fucking favor? Who the hell do you think you are? Maybe if you want something from me, you should actually acknowledge my presence! What kind of shit is this?"

When I finished, I realized that I had somehow pinned Marik against the wall. I guess I had gone too hard on him, his arms were shaking.

"B-Bakura…I-I…"

Goddammit, what had I done?

Slowly, I let go of his arms.

"Nevermind. I'm sorry." The last two words came out rushed. After all, I hadn't apologized to anyone in two years.

"Huh?"

"I said I'm sorry! Ok? Are you happy now?"

Oh god no, I was _not _blushing in front of this bastard, but this is just too goddamn embarrassing.

And then Marik did something that caught me completely off guard: he grabbed me and pulled me into a hug.

He was hugging me.

…why?

"Yes." I must have hit his head when I pinned him to the wall. "Yes, I'm happy." He let me go and pulled away. He was smiling. Like, _really_ smiling.

What the hell was this guy's problem? I guess I had hit him too hard. I had just pinned him to the wall, screamed in his face, and probably mentally scarred him for life, and he was smiling.

It wasn't even a sympathetic smile, he was beaming; I could see all his teeth.

Marik looks pretty when he smiles like that.

Wait! No! Dammit, I need to stop thinking about that! He isn't pretty, or beautiful, he's just a guy with an attitude and possible mental defects!

As I was standing there, having an internal battle with myself, I realized that I must have been making weird faces or something, because Marik asked if I was ok.

"Yeah, I'm fine. That was just…well, nevermind. Just forget it." He shrugged, like to say 'whatever.' We picked up our stuff and left the locker rooms, but before we headed to our different classes, I called out to him.

"Oh yeah, Marik!" He wheeled around. "What?"

"Meet me at my locker after school if you want me to take you home."

And I walked away, one hand up in a silent goodbye.

* * *

I hate grammar check on Word. THEY'RE _SUPPOSED_ TO BE FRAGMENTS, DAMN YOU!

And one time, when I wrote "miss Marik", it wanted to make it "Miss Marik."

Which of course, lead to me thinking about fem!Marik.

OH YEAH! I need help from you guys. Those who are reading it, that is.

Where does Bakura work?

He has a job, but I have no idea where. I have been antagonizing over this for weeks. I originally thought a bar, but he isn't old enough. So if you have any suggestions, make sure to tell me!

~3


	3. Belonging

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh, or anything else mentioned in this story.

* * *

It was the last period before school ended, which happened to be a study hall for me. I was sitting at the table with my head down, trying to get some sleep but failing miserably because of the two bitches who sat behind me.

"Have you seen that new kid Marik?"

"Yeah, he's in my psychology class."

I glanced behind me to see who was talking, and saw that it was Anzu and Mai, two girls who were in my homeroom.

"Isn't he so cute?~"

"I guess. A little too girly for me, though." I smirked.

"Who knows Mai, maybe he'll turn out like Katsuya."

At this, I had to restrain my laughter. Everyone knew that Mai used to have a crush on Katsuya Juonouchi, another boy in our homeroom, who ended up being gay with Seto Kaiba. He had been the prettiest boy in the school, until Marik came along. Actually, now that I think about it, there's a lot of gay guys at our school. There was also Hiroto Honda and Ryuji Otogi, and Yugi and Yami Muoto, who swore they weren't related but at first glance you could tell they were.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the end of the day. I started my walk all the way across the school to my locker. It took my about seven minutes to get from this end of the school to the other, so by the time I got there, Marik was already leaning against the locker next to mine.

"Hey," I greeted him. "Glad to see you showed up." He nodded, smiling.

"Why wouldn't I? After all, this was my idea." I guess he had a point…damn. I just made myself look like an idiot.

"So where do you live, anyway?"He gave me his address and I may have choked a little. Marik lived in one of the richest neighborhoods in town. Luckily it would only take about ten minutes to walk there, which was a lot better than my thirty. "Alright then, let's go." I slammed my locker shut and headed for the door.

The first few minutes of our walk was in silence. I don't know why, but I really hate when nobody's talking. So I said "Why don't you have a car, anyway?" If he was a rich bastard, he should, right?

"I do, but it's being fixed right now."

I knew it.

"What about you?"

The question caught me of guard. "Huh?"

"Why don't you have a car?" Oh…

"Because I can't afford one." He nodded, like he had been expecting my answer.

"It took me years to save up for mine. How much more do you need?" Seeing my glare, his face flushed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to ask anything personal…"

I stopped walking. "Bakura?..."

I let out a frustrated sigh. I hadn't been planning on telling him anything, but it looks like made him upset again.

"OK Marik, I guess you'll figure it out soon enough anyway, so I might as well tell you now." He was looking right into my eyes. I loved that.

"My father and I are so pathetically poor that we lost are house and are now living in a warehouse. I don't have a car not only because I can't afford one, but because I'm saving up for my own place. And I'm not too far, because of my shit Dairy Queen job. And since I'm saving my money, I have to steal food during my lunch break." I took a breath.

"There. That's everything."

Marik was standing there with his eyes wide. And then he threw himself at me, and held me so tight it almost hurt. What was with this guy and hugging?

Suddenly, I felt something wet on my shoulder. He was crying? He's such a girl…

"Marik?" I tried to talk softly. He lifted his head up, and I saw that his eyes were all red. "Why are you crying, moron?" I was smiling a little, so he knew the insult didn't really mean anything.

"I'm crying…because I live in a big house, with two cars, and you have to steal food and practically live on your own, and it just isn't fair!" I smiled. "Silly Marik. Don't you know? Life isn't fair." But still…he had been crying for me. No one's ever done that before. Hell, I've never even had any friends before. So we were friends now?...

He was still clinging to me, so I said "Marik, come on. We're almost there." He finally let go, and we walked the rest of the way in silence. And then we got to his house. Holy fucking god, it was huge.

It was three stories high, at least. The outside was all white, except for the green roof. The driveway seemed to go on for miles. We were both just standing outside his house, and I realized this was my cue to leave. I had done my job and brought him here. "Well, see you tomorrow."

"Whaddya mean? You're coming in." No. There was no way I was going in there. It's not that I didn't want to, but I'm sure they'd take one look at my and throw me out.

"No I'm not. I have to go home." He snorted.

"Like hell you do." And with that, he grabbed my arm and pulled me inside.

I don't know what I had been expecting. Maybe crystal chandeliers and a fountain or something, but his house wasn't the stereotypical rich person's I had imagined it as.

We entered the house, and the first thing I noticed was the staircase immediately to the right of us. On the left there was a room with white walls, a dark red carpet, three black sofas, and a TV big enough to take up half the wall. Through the doorway a couple feet in front of us was the kitchen, which is where Marik led me. "Come on, no one's home yet." It was weird that his mom wasn't home…I thought that all moms stayed home while the dads went to work? At least, that's how it had been in my family…

"So who lives here? Just you and you're parents?" But there was no way that they had this huge house just for three people.

"No. It's me, my dad, and my brother and sister." We sat down and Marik pulled a bottle of soda out of the fridge.

"Your mom doesn't live with you?"

"She's dead." The way he said it was sharp, like he didn't want to talk about it. He finished pouring my coke and took a sip of his own. I just nodded to acknowledge I heard him. He raised his eyebrow.

"What, no 'Oh, I'm so sorry'?"

"Do I look like that kind of person who would say that shit? Besides, I'm used to it."

"Wha…?" And then I saw the light go off in his head. After all, I had only said '_My father and I'._

"Oh…your mom is dead too…"

"No kidding. For two fucking years."

"Oh…sorry..." I took the last gulp of my coke. "Well, thanks for the drink, but I better get going." I stood up and reached towards my bag, but out of no where Marik's hand shot out and grabbed it.

"Marik", I growled. "Give me my bag back."

He smirked. "Come and get it." And then the bastard ran away.

So naturally, I chased after him. He ran through the kitchen door, made a left and ran up the stairs. When you got to the landing, you weren't really in a totally different section of the house, because it was a balcony type thing over the whole first floor before you got to the kitchen. Without hesitation, I ran after him into a room on the west wall. Now I could finally get my bag back and go, he couldn't get out of the room unless he passed me, and that wasn't going to happen. But when I opened the door, Marik was just casually sitting on his bed…

His bed. We were in Marik's room.

The bed that the stupid punk was sitting on, smiling confidently, was black. The soft carpet under me was white, and the walls were light purple.

The whole room just screamed "Marik" all over it.

At the other end of the room was a flat screen TV with a game platform attached to it, and there were two gold bean bag chairs on the ground.

But I had more important things to do than analyze Marik's bedroom.

"So, you've kidnapped me and my bag, now what are you gonna do?" I tried my best to glare at him.

"It'd not what I'm going to do, it's what you're going to do." Marik rose off the bed and walked over to where the TV was.

"What the hell are you talking about, you-" I threw my hands out to catch whatever it was Marik had just thrown at my face.

"You're going to play video games with me."

He had thrown me a PS2 controller.

* * *

"Dammit!" Marik had just killed me!

"I win again."

We were lying on his floor, eating chips and playing whatever this game was that he was so good at.

"Shut up, Marik! Just because I've only won-" I was interrupted by a knock on his door.

"Come in!" The door opened, and a girl who I figured was Marik's sister walked in. She had long black hair that went to the middle of her back. She dressed like her brother, with all the gold jewelry. She was actually really pretty. "Dinner's ready." Her eyes met mine. "Oh, who's this?" You mean you hadn't noticed me before…? Marik stood up, so I did the same thing.

"This is Bakura. We go to school together. And he, uh, showed me how to get home." She smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Bakura. I'm Ishizu, Marik's older sister. Are you staying for dinner?" Marik answered before I could even process what she had said.

"Yes, he is." She smiled again.

"Alright. Odion says he's almost done. Oh, and father won't be home until later."

Marik nodded. "Alright. We'll be down soon." Ishizu nodded, and left the room. After she was gone, I turned to Marik.

"I can talk for myself, thank you." He smirked. That goddamn smile of his pissed me off so much.

"Well, I wasn't taking no for an answer, and I knew that was what you were going to say." Stupid bastard. Well, whatever. At least I get some free food out of this.

"Whatever, Marik. This better be good food though." He smiled at me again.

"The best."

After that, we headed downstairs into their huge kitchen. Marik took a seat at the table, so I sat down next to him. I didn't want to be stuck next to Ishizu or Marik's brother…

Ishizu walked over, carrying two plates of something that looked like chicken and brown rice. She set the plates down in front of us, and sat down while Odion brought over the other two.

Marik's brother was tall, and tanner than the two of them. He was bald, except for a ponytail in the back. Kind of a weird hairstyle, but I didn't say anything…Who knows, maybe it was really popular back in Egypt or something. He was also really built-his biceps were huge.

"So, you two know each other from school?" His voice was really deep, too.

Marik nodded. "Yeah. We have science together." He put a forkful of rice in his mouth. "And gym." Ishizu frowned. "Marik, don't talk while your eating." He swallowed and smiled. "Sorry."

The rest of the meal pretty much went on like that. We talked about random things like school, food, the weather, until Ishizu said "Bakura, it's getting late. Don't you have someone at home waiting for you?" To avoid the whole subject, I just nodded and said "Yeah, I better get going. I'll go get my bag." Odion gestured towards the stairs. "Marik, go with him." He nodded, and I followed him out of the kitchen and into his room. When we reached the top, I grabbed my bag off his floor and threw it over my shoulder. "Well, thanks for kidnapping me. I guess I actually enjoyed myself."

He laughed. "No problem."

Just then, when he laughed, Marik sounded like the nicest, friendliest person ever. (Even though I knew he was an arrogant bastard.) Maybe it was because his laugh sounded really…carefree, or something. I couldn't explain it. But it might've been the prettiest sound I've ever heard.

"I'll see you tomorrow then."

His voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "Oh, yeah. See ya."

I walked down the stairs and saw Ishizu waiting by the front door.

"Bye Bakura. You're welcome back anytime."

"Thanks. For dinner and everything, too." I wasn't used to people being this nice…

She smiled. "No, it was our pleasure, really. I'm just glad Marik has a friend to hang out with during school. Anyway, be safe getting home."

I nodded. "Thanks, I will." Getting home wasn't the problem, it was who was waiting at home that I was worried about. She opened the door for me, and I walked down the driveway, past a silver Camaro. Since I was leaving from Marik's house, it took me at least forty minutes to get "home."

My dad was waiting for me.

"Where the hell have you been?"

Like you care.

Slap.

"I've been waiting all night!"

Punch.

It's only ten.

"You're such an insolent little brat!"

Shove.

With that last one, he pushed me hard enough that I slammed against the wall, and fell to my knees.

"Get the fuck in bed!"

I pulled myself to my feet, and when I walked past him, he took a wig of his his beer and spit it at me. When I laid down on my mattress, trying to get some sleep, it was then that it struck me: Ishizu hadn't come home that much later than us, so why couldn't she have picked Marik up?

* * *

Sorry for the long wait, but to make up for it, this was a longer chapter. ^_^;;

Anyway, I wanna thank all the reviewers who gave me ideas for the next chapter!

_Random Inspired, Whirlpool of Madness, Nightingale'sAria_

Thanks! I love you all! 33333

Next chapter should be out soon, it's already been written, I just need to type it.


	4. Tension

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, or Dairy Queen, or anything else mentioned in this story.

* * *

"What the hell happened to you?"

It was the next day during homeroom, and Marik was staring at me with a look I couldn't identify. Shock? Horror? Anyway, he had reason to; my face looked pretty bad. There was a bruise across my right cheek, and another one under my left eye.

"I fell." Ok, that had to be the lamest excuse ever, but no way in hell was I telling him the truth.

"Yeah, right. Someone beat you up!"

"It's nothing, Marik."

"But-" Our homeroom teacher walked in, cutting him off. She's never had better timing.

"Ishtar, turn around. Jonouchi, get away from Kaiba." Marik did as he was told, and the rest of the class fell silent.

The rest of the day went by uneventfully, except for Marik bugging my about the bruises whenever he saw me. I tried to get changes quickly in P.E. today, because there was another one on my side. But the bastard had come in before me, so him not seeing it wasn't an option. When he saw it, of course he only freaked out more.

It was _annoying_.

"Marik." I was clenching my teeth, trying to stop myself from yelling at him. "Shut. Up." School had just ended, and we were walking across the parking lot to Marik's car, (which he had conveniently gotten back from the mechanic today.) because he had insisted on giving me a ride.

"Oh, this is it right here."

I looked up at the car in front of us, and was actually a little amazed at what I saw. It was a truck. A rusty red pickup truck. Marik saw me staring, and frowned.

"What, you don't like it?"

"It's just so…unfeminine."

"Thanks, I think."

"It doesn't fit you at all."

"Oh, rea-HEY!"

And for the first time in a long time, I burst out laughing. "I mean, I pictured you with a convertible or something." I bet he only bought the truck because he knew it would make him look manlier. And somehow, that only made him seem even girlier.

"Actually, ever since I was little, I've wanted a motorcycle. But my dad won't let me get one…"

Marik on a motorcycle? That might be…really…sexy.

We climbed into his truck, and he said "So where do you live, anyway?" For some reason, the words sounded familiar…Oh, that's what I had said to him yesterday before we left school. From his smile, I guessed he did it on purpose. "I don't think there's an exact address. I'll just give you directions." He nodded, and pulled out of the parking lot.

When we finally got there (it was actually only about 10 minutes) Marik said "Wow..this is where you live…"

"Yeah." I cleared my throat. "Do you wanna come in?" I wasn't comfortable at all with Marik seeing my crappy living conditions, but I knew in the end he would force himself in anyway. As expected, he nodded. We exited the truck, and walked around to the back where the door was. When I pulled the door open, the normal stench of alcohol made its way to my nose. Behind me, I heard Marik gag. "Is that…beer?" Inwardly, I flinched. He sounded so disgusted. Of course, any normal person probably would be.

"Yeah, sorry about that." We walked into the warehouse, and I led him over to the table in the corner of the space. "Did-did you steal all of this?" I nodded.

"We didn't come with any of this, except our clothes."

"That's kind of…amazing, Bakura. You're amazing." My eyes widened. He was calling me amazing for stealing things? I guess he really was crazy. But still, I couldn't help but be a little happy when he said that. I started to blush against my will, so I turned my back.

"Um, thanks. So, do you want anything to drink? We should still have some soda."

"Sure." I walked across the room to where my bed and the food was. I dug through the bag of drinks until I found two cokes, and threw him one. It was then that I noticed Marik looked really uncomfortable. He was just sitting there, fidgeting. He hadn't even opened his soda yet. I sighed. Should've figured it would be like this.

I was so busy watching Marik and not watching where I was walking that I tripped over the edge of the mattress, with the open soda still in my hands. "Shit!"I fell on the mattress, but the soda spilled all over my shirt. And then I heard Marik laughing at me. He wasn't even trying to hide it; he was bending over because of how hard he was laughing. Slowly, He stood up and walked over to me.

"I'm sorry. "

"Fuck you," I growled. He reached behind and grabbed the roll of paper towels. I figured he was going to clean up the spill on the floor, but instead he gently took hold of my shirt and started dabbing at the soda on it. His hand brushed my stomach, and I shivered, even though his hands were warm.

"It's ok, I'm just going to change my shirt anyway."

"Alright." Marik stood up, and held his hand out to me. I took it, but didn't let go even after he had pulled me up.

"Bakura…?" I ignored him, and walked over to where I kept my clothes. When I let go, Marik seemed to relax a little.

"Never mind. Let's go."

"Huh?"

"Marik, I can tell that you don't like it in here." I pulled off my shirt, not bothering to put another one on."Come on." Silently, he followed me out the door. Of course, once we were outside, he immediately started apologizing.

"Sorry….I just…"

"It's fine. It's not your fault my dad's an alcoholic." He shifted his weight.

"Yeah. So, um, I'll see you on Monday."

For some reason, him saying this reminded me that I have to work tomorrow. I snorted. "If I survive this weekend." He tilted his head.

"What's this weekend?"

"I work tomorrow." Ugh. Just the thought of it made me want to punch someone. Marik laughed.

"What could be so bad about being surrounded by ice cream?"

"That's not the problem, it's the goddamn customers."

Marik laughed harder. "Of course. You aren't a very people friendly guy." I grimaced.

"Yeah, you could say that." It's more like I hated everyone…except him.

"Well if you don't make it, I'll come to your funeral." I smiled.

"You and no one else."

"I'm sure-" I cut him off.

"It was a joke Marik. Just go."

"Oh…Ok." He climbed into his truck and started the ignition. "See ya."

I nodded, and then watched him drive away until I couldn't see him anymore. And then I went inside and fell asleep, so I wouldn't have to deal with my father when he came home.

* * *

I woke up at seven in the morning.

Fucking hell, why'd I wake up so early? I mean, normal people would sleep in on a Saturday, and I'm waking up at seven in the fucking morning. And I don't have to be at work until twelve.

Goddamn.

On the other side of the room, my father was still snoring. Stumbling out of bed, I grabbed my uniform, pulled on my shoes, and started walking to the pool.

One of the disadvantages of not having a house was the no bathroom issue. So there was no shower, and no toilet. Normally, the toilet thing wasn't a big deal. It's not as if we don't have toilet paper. But the shower, on the other hand, could get problematic sometimes. Which is why I was so grateful for the local pool, which had showers in the locker room. So I started my forty five minute walk to the pool, which for some insane reason, was open at eight in the morning every day, even in the winter. I took my time walking there, since it was only a five minute walk to the Dairy Queen I work at. But my walk there was pretty uneventful. I reached the building in roughly 50 minutes.

"Hey Bakura!" I looked up. It was the girl behind the counter, Shizuka. She was that kid Jonouchi's sister. Once, she asked why I came here every day, so I told her I came here to shower and she made me explain the whole situation. Ever since then, she's let me in for free.

"Hey Shizuka."

"You can go right in, the locker rooms are open."

"Thanks."

Our conversations always start like this. Sometimes they continue, but she apparently didn't feel like talking, because she didn't say anything else. I was usually the only person here, and of course I liked it that way. I took a long shower today, because…I could.

I still had way too much time on my hands after I was done, so I decided to go out to breakfast. I found some nondescript diner not too far away, and ordered sausage, since it was the apparently the only meaty breakfast food on the menu. After I was done, I still had two hours to kill. So I wondered around town aimlessly, because there was nothing better to do. When I finally got there, I went into the bathroom to change into my uniform and pull my hair back, just another disadvantages of having to work here. MY shift ended at five, but an hour later I was ready to strangle someone. In particular, all the whiny brats, indecisive customers, and obnoxious as fuck middle schoolers who walked through the fucking door.

Around one, there weren't a lot of people coming in, so I turned around and started refilling the cup holders.

"Excuse me."

Damn.

"What's your order?" I didn't turn around.

"I'll have…hmm…"

Hurry the fuck up.

"You?"

What. The. Fuck.

I spun around. "What the hell?" And then I saw it: that smirk, the one that thought it was better than everyone else.

"Marik." I growled. "What the bloody hell are you doing here?"

He blinked, still smirking. "I came to visit you at work. Is that a crime?"

"Yes." He obviously didn't know what kind of mood I was in. "You should know that I'm always in a horrible mood whenever I'm here."

"Well then go on your lunch break with me, and get in a better mood."

I guess he had a point. It was better than staying here, anyway. "Fine."

"I must say Bakura, you look pretty cute in that uniform."

…

I walked out from behind the counter, came up behind him, and smacked him upside the head.

"I'm going on break!" I yelled to whoever happened to be within hearing distance. And then I walked out the door, not bothering to wait for him.

"Bakura!" I kept walking.

"Bakura, that hurt!" He had caught up to me now.

"You deserved it."

"Did not!"

"And I'm not not having this conversation with you."

"Hmph." Was he actually pouting? Whatever.

We reached out destination: the ramen shop I always come to for my lunch break. It was like a little café, with tables outside. We sat down at one, and the waiter who always saw me came over.

"Hey Bakura. The usual?"

"It wouldn't be the usual if I didn't get it every time, Ryuzaki." He was only one year younger than us, sixteen.

"Ok. And what about your friend?" I definitely didn't like the way he was looking at Marik…

He ordered, and Ryuzaki walked away.

"So you always come here?"

I nodded. "Every day."

He smirked. "Good. Now I know where to find you."

I rolled my eyes. "Great, my best friend's a stalker."

I think both our eyes widened at the same time, because I was just as surprised as he was.

I hadn't been thinking about what I was saying, but holy shit.

Best friend?

Where the hell did that come from?

Marik got over it first.

"Yup. You clearly have a horrible taste in friends, Bakura,"

"I won't say no to that."

"Yeah – HEY!" I started laughing. He was so easy to make fun of, I didn't even have to try.

"Here you go." I looked up. Rex was back, with our food.

"Thanks."

And then Marik proceeded to inhale his food.

"Wow, this is really good!"

God, he was like a fucking garbage disposal!

"Marik, calm down before you hurt yourself."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not a little kid, Bakura."

"Well, sometimes I doubt that…" I muttered.

But the ramen _was_ really good, and I ended up finishing not long after him.

He paid the bill, and left a tip – which probably made Ryuzaki happy, since he normally never charges me. Besides being a kick ass thief, I'm also good at getting things for free.

Marik walked me back to work.

"Thanks for the food.

"No problem. It wasn't expensive or anything."

For you, maybe.

"Well, see you on Monday."

As he walked away, and I went back inside to deal with more work, I got this feeling that something big was going to happen tomorrow.

* * *

Ok, so this was a slightly longer chapter…

And for those of you who are unfamiliar with the Japanese names, Ryuzaki is Dinosaur Ryuzaki, AKA Rex Raptor.

Oh, and in the last end note, I said "thanks for the people who gave me ideas for the next chapter." Well, I meant "this chapter". Sorry if I caused any confusion.

And all those 3's were supposed to be hearts, but apparently it edits out the arrow thing, so…

Anyway, review please!


	5. Unity

Here we go, the chapter everyone's been waiting for. ;)

This chapter's for Gazzgirl.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh. Kizuki Takahashi does. Sucks, huh? And I don't own any of the other things mentioned in this, either.

* * *

Marik was going to freak out.

There were new bruises on my arms, my shoulders, and my neck. The right side of my ribs were bruised, and there were smaller ones on my face, under my eyes.

So to summarize, I looked like shit.

I didn't even want to go to school. I didn't have the energy to make it through the day, and I doubt that I'm going to be able to act normally. Emotionally traumatizing events usually do that to you. So in the end, Marik would worry even more. But I couldn't stay here and do nothing but wait for _him_ to come home. I couldn't be around him. Not after what he did to me.

So I left the warehouse in a hurry, only to step outside and find…

Marik's truck parked outside. He was leaning against the passenger door, smirking. But when he saw me, it was just like I had predicted: He stopped smiling and ran towards me, his eyes wide.

"Oh my god, Bakura…" Gently, he reached up and fingered the bruise under my right eye. It felt like a jolt of electricity went through my body. I leaned into his touch and closed my eyes.

"Someone hurt you again." It wasn't a question. When I stayed silent, he sighed."Come on. We don't want to be late." I nodded and we climbed into the truck, but secretly, I wished he'd keep holding me like that.

We didn't talk for the rest of the day. Not until gym. Which of course, I was dreading. There was no way to keep him from seeing the bruise on my ribs, which was by far the biggest one. I tried to be careful lifting my shirt, but it still hurt to move my shoulders that much. Next to me, I heard Marik inhale sharply. One of the guys who were changing across from us (those idiots I had mentioned before) heard Marik and looked over at us. Seeing my shitty condition, his eyes widened. "Whoa, Bakura. It looks like you were raped or somethin', man."

I could almost hear the gears click in Marik's head. And now, there was no denying it.

So I ran.

I sprinted out of the locker room, through the gym, and out the door. Back around the school to the woods. I didn't stop until I had reached my mattress. I laid down, squeezed my eyes shut, and breathed.

Just breathed.

I wanted to lie here forever, with no one bothering me, no one hurting me…I wanted to stay here forever, alone. Like I was used to. I didn't want anyone, I didn't need anyone. The thoughts were…nostalgic. I used to think them everyday. My motto was Fuck the world and everyone in it. So…when had that changed?

I heard footsteps somewhere in the distance. I had expected him to follow me. Maybe…maybe being totally alone wasn't what I wanted, after all. Because everything had changed when I met Marik. He had changed me.

And suddenly, I didn't want to be alone anymore. I heard him call out to me, so I answered him.

"Marik…" My voice was barely a whisper, but he heard me. It seemed like he always did.

"Bakura, oh god…" It was like this morning, he ran over to me. He kneeled down beside me and stroked my face.

"It was your father." Again, it wasn't a question. I nodded.

"Bakura, please sit up." I did what he told me, and opened my eyes. The sunlight shining down through the trees illuminated Marik's face, shone off his hair, his jewelry…

He was beautiful.

"My father raped me last night."

And then Marik began to cry. And for the first time in two years, so did I. Marik was still holding my face, and with a shaky hand, he tilted my head up.

And kissed me.

Like the rest of his touch, his lips were gentle. He tasted like spices…and chocolate. Slowly, he pulled away, but stayed close enough so that our noses still touched. And that's when I knew. I had probably known it the whole time.

I was in love with Marik.

He leaned me back until I was laying on the mattress again, and then he lowered himself over me, making sure not to put any weight on my body. He slowly lowered his face until his lips brushed the bruise under my eye, then skimmed across my nose and to my other eye. He kissed me again gently on the lips, and then his mouth moved down to my neck and traveled across my right shoulder. He trailed kisses against my bare chest and down my side, and when he was done, he laid down next to me and wrapped me up in his arms.

"You don't have to be alone anymore." His voice was soft. "I'll always protect you."

"Hey Marik?"

"Hm?"

"I think I'm in love with you"

"…Really?"

"Yeah."

He leaned over and kissed me. "I love you, too."

And then we fell asleep together, in the middle of the day.

* * *

I woke up with my face buried in Marik's neck. I inhaled; he smelled like the incense in his house. I felt him move, so I lifted my head and found myself staring into his eyes. His gorgeous, purple eyes. Marik smiled at me. "Good Morning." He kissed my forehead, and I shivered, even though the air was warm. "Morning."

"How are you feeling?"

"Better. What time is it?"

"School started around an hour ago."

I sat up. "I should probably go home and put a shirt on."

He nodded. "I'll come with you." He sat up."Since we're obviously not going to school today, what should we do?"

I didn't really care, as long as I got to be with him. But then I realized that we had slept through dinner yesterday. "I'm hungry."

He laughed. "Well, then we should get something to eat."

I processed this in my mind for a second. "Like a date," I clarified.

Marik blinked. "Um, sure, if that's what you want."

"Yeah." I turned around so that I was facing him. "That is what I want." When I kissed him, it wasn't like before. This time was desperate, demanding. Like I was trying to tell him everything in that one kiss. And since I was in charge, it wasn't going to be short _or_ sweet.

My tongue brushed his bottom lip, asking for entrance. He gave it to me eagerly, not that his refusal would have stopped me anyway. Our tongue's entwined, battling each other for dominance. I won, of course. I pulled back slightly so that I could suck on his bottom lip. I must've been doing something right, because Marik let out a throaty moan. It might've been the sexiest sound I'd ever heard. My lips traveled down his neck, stopping at the collar bone where I bit it, making him yelp. I ran my tongue across the skin in apology, and then proceeded to suck on it. Marik let a groan.

"K-Kura…"

He's proven me wrong. I wanted to hear my name come from his lips again. I wanted him to moan it, whisper it, scream it. I'd do anything.

Because that was undoubtedly the sexiest sound I'd ever heard.

I pulled back. "God dammit, Marik." I stood up, pulling him up with me. "I love you so damn much." He grinned then, the smile I loved, and kissed me on the cheek. " I love you, too."

We walked out of the trees and through the parking lot until we got to Marik's car. I really would have to get him a motorcycle. I probably have almost enough for a cheap one. We got in the truck and immediately, Marik turned the radio on. Now that I thought about, that was always the first thing he did when we got in the car. I tried to listen to the song playing, noting that Marik was humming along. Actually, it did sound familiar…

_You were a problem child  
Been grounded your whole life  
So now you runnin' wild  
Playin' with them good girls  
No that ain't your style.  
You think you're hot shit and I love it  
I love it yeah, yeah  
Stumblin' but yeah you still lookin hella fine  
Keep doin' what your doin' and I'ma make you mine_

The humming was really getting to me now. "Marik."

He turned to me. "Yeah?"

"Sing for me." He looked confused for a second, but then quickly joined in with the chorus.

_Well you're a hot mess and I'm fallin' for you  
And I'm like "hot damn, lemme make you my boo."  
'Cuz you can shake it, shake it, shake it  
Yeah you know what to do  
You're a hot mess  
I'm lovin' it hell yes_

His voice was beautiful. Better then the actual singer's. And his voice singing those lyrics just sounded fricking sexy. I was about to lean over and kiss him (which probably wouldn't have been a good idea, since he was driving.) but Marik interrupted me.

"Sing with me."

"No way in fucking hell."

"Please, Kura?"

I snorted. "Since when is that my name?"

"Since now. Please?"

I sighed. Why'd he have to be so freaking cute?

_Stumblin' but yeah you still lookin' hella fine  
Keep doin' what your doin' and I'ma make you mine  
Well you're a hot mess and I'm fallin' for you  
And I'm like "hot damn, lemme make you my boo."  
'Cuz you can shake it, shake it, shake it  
Yeah you know what to do  
You're a hot mess  
I'm lovin' it hell yes.  
_

When I stopped, Marik was staring at me open mouthed.

"Bakura…you really are amazing."

He's the only person on this planet that can make me blush.

We drove the rest of the way in silence, except for Marik humming along to the radio. I probably could've listened to him sing like that forever.

We reached the warehouse, and I saw that my father's coat was still hanging on the door, which means that he was still here. Suddenly, I was scared. I didn't know what would happen if he saw Marik.

"Why don't you stay in the car?"

He shook his head. "No way. I'm not leaving you alone with him." He leaned over and kissed me softly. "Come on." He jumped out of the truck, so I had no choice but to follow. I opened the door slowly, and what I saw made me want to grab Marik, push him out the door and make sure he couldn't get back in.

My father was having sex with some whore on his bed. It's nothing I wasn't used to, I had walked in on him a countless number of times within the past two years. But something told me that Marik was still a virgin, and that he shouldn't be seeing any of this. As proof, he gasped. When he heard us, my father looked up.

"Boy!" he spat. "Where the hell 'ave you been?" He was slurring so much, I could barely make out what he was saying. "Well?" He was yelling now. "Answer me!"

I stared him right in the eye. "I was out."

"Out doin' what?"

"…Just out."

His eyes flew to Marik. "Eh? And who's this?" He got off the mattress and moved closer to us. "Is he your little fag b-"

He was interrupted by the sound of bone snapping, and flesh on flesh. I had just punched my father in the face. He stumbled backwards, lost his balance, and fell.

"Don't you ever talk about him that way again." My vision clouded over with red. "Or I will not hesitate to kill you." And while he was still down, I grabbed a shirt out of my suitcase, grabbed Marik's wrist, and left. We didn't talk until we got in the car.

"Bakura…"

"Sorry. Just-give me a minute." We both fell silent, and I concentrated on taking deep breaths.

"I'm really sorry about that."

Marik started the car. "It wasn't your fault. There's nothing for you to apologize for." His voice was soft. Mine was bitter, angry. What had I done to deserve him?

"So, anyway," I could tell he was trying to lighten the mood. "Where do you want to eat?"

I pulled my shirt over my head. "I don't care."

"Do you like seafood?" It was ok…technically, it was still meat, but…

"Do they have steak?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's go.

A couple minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant that looked like a beach house with a giant lobster on the sign. We walked inside, and the first thing I saw was a tank of lobsters. They were piled on top of each other, aimlessly moving their claws around.

We were taken to our table, and a couple minutes later a guy probably only a few years older than us came to our table.

"Hi, welcome to Red Lobster. My name's Mako and I'll be your server for today. Can I start you off with something to drink?" We both ordered what we always drank when we were together: Coke. It wasn't long until he brought those out and we ordered our food. They had a whole seafood and steak thing, which I got, and Marik ordered something called the ultimate feast, which sounded too big for him to eat. After he left, Marik looked at me. "Bakura…" Oh crap. I recognized that tone, and I knew where this was headed. "Will you tell me what happened…with your father?" I was silent for a minute.

"He was drunk, as usual. He got mad at me because I walked in on him like we did today. But when the slut saw me, she said 'I didn't know you had a kid,' and walked out. He said it was my fault that she left, and now he didn't have anybody to fuck…so he's just have to fuck me instead. And then…he did." I expected Marik to start crying or something, but he actually looked really angry.

"Bastard! Fathers shouldn't do things like that…it just isn't right, not to mention fucking illegal!" I've never seen him this upset before…why did he suddenly care so much?

"Marik?" It was like he suddenly snapped back into reality.

He shook his head. "Nothing."

Whatever.

"Here you go." Our waiter came back with our food, and I gaped at the size of Marik's meal. It had to have been at least triple the size of mine.

But the steak tasted fucking amazing.

After the amazing meal, Marik drove me home. Suddenly, a thought struck me.

"Hey Marik, when's your birthday?"

He glanced at me. "December 23. Why?"

"Just wondering."

"When's yours?" Damn, I should've known he would ask that.

"I don't know…"

He looked at me again. "Seriously? You don't know your birthday?"

I shook my head. "My mother never celebrated any birthdays, so I never thought to ask." I didn't know my parents birthday, either.

"Wow…" He actually looked sad. Suddenly, his eyes brightened. " We'll just have to decide one for you!" Now it was my turn to look at him. "Really?"

He shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

I was silent. I guess I had never thought about it before, or even cared. But now that Marik brought it up, I guess it was kind of important.

"Ok then…how about June 12?"

"That was only a couple days ago, why then?" He pulled into my driveway.

"Because that was the day I met you." Smiling, I leaned over and kissed him. Before he could say anything, I jumped out of the truck and went inside.

My father didn't come home that night.

* * *

Ok, so…this was it, that chapter they finally get together….

I hope they weren't too OOC in this chapter…I always worry about that.

I reeeeeaaaallllly want your feedback on this one! I'm begging here! I need to know how horribly I screwed up!

Ok, the song used was Hot Mess by Cobra Starship.

That's all I have to say…

Thanks to my friend for helping me on this one, who's also going to be taking me to see the new Yugioh movie! (in 3D!) XD


	6. Conflict

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh. Sorry for the long wait…^^;;

Thanks to **BloodIsntEnough** for motivating me! –hearts-

* * *

It was a week later.

Marik and I were still together, which means that we've been in a longer lasting relationship then most kids at our school. I laid there for a minute, enjoying the silence, before opening my eyes.

Marik was sitting right next to my face.

"W-what the fuck, Marik?"

I wasn't exactly expecting to see him. I mean sure, he picked me up every morning, but he had never come in before.

He, like usual, was smirking. "You should really get a lock on that door."

I groaned, sitting up."What time is it?"

"You have fifteen minutes before we have to leave. I let you sleep in."

With that confirmed, I reached across the bed to the suitcase that held my clothes and pulled out a blue striped shirt and a pair of gray jeans.

Pulling my shirt off, I walked over the cracked, broken mirror on the wall to examine my bruises. Most of them were fading or gone now, and the big one on my ribs had turned a gross shade of yellow and green.

Marik came up behind me and gently touched it with his finger. "Does it still hurt?"

I shook my head. "Not really."

"Good." He kissed me on the cheek before moving away to let me finish getting dressed, which I did quickly.

Five minutes later, we were in the truck, where I immediately opened the center consol. I had found out yesterday that Marik had about a hundred CD's that he kept in miscellaneous places throughout his car, most of which were in here.

There was a yellow one that I hadn't noticed before. When I saw the cover, I snorted. "Vocaloid?"

He blushed. "Shut up. What's wrong with it? It's not like I'm listening to frigging Caramelldansen."

Challenging him, I slid the CD into the dashboard.

_The distorted ordinary life, a forbidden love,_

_and a heart of deception._

_Our imperfect love has been painted_

_completely black in this ebony world._

After the song was over, we both sat there in silence until I said "Marik….there were three guys singing that song."

His blush became more profound, and I didn't say anything else. I had made my point.

It wasn't long after that that we got to school. We had decided on Monday that we weren't going to hide our relationship. (Besides, I don't think I would've been able to keep my hands off him for six and a half hours, anyway.) So that day, we kissed in homeroom. Of course, it had caused a lot of drama, but it was well worth the insults. Most people who called us fags didn't mean it anyway, it was a 'Let's pick on the gay kids!' more than anything else.

That didn't stop me from wanting to punch every one of them, though.

I was getting some books out of my locker when I heard a slam against metal, and a cry of surprise. I turned around. Someone was pinning Marik to the wall, and that someone was Keith Howards, A.K.A Bandit Keith. He had earned the nickname for some stupid stunt he pulled last year. He was a transfer student from America and he was always going on about how great it was over there.

"Hey Ishtar, seen your little bitch around? Doesn't look like he's here to save you now, is he?"

Bloody hell, this guy really was stupid.

"Actually, I'm right here."

He spun around, looking surprised. "Oh, Ba-"

He was interrupted by someone punching him in the face.

I was surprised, because I had yet to move.

Keith stumbled backwards, dropping his hold on Marik. The unknown person ran over to Marik, and pulled him off the ground. I wasn't really paying attention when Keith said "This isn't over, Ishtar!" and ran down the hall. I was too busy looking at the guy who had punched him.

He looked almost exactly like Marik.

They had the same bronze skin, same platinum hair. The only difference there was that his was spiked up all over his head. What really surprised me was that they had the same color eyes.

But more importantly, he still had his arm wrapped around Marik. Who apparently noticed the resemblance too.

"Um, thanks…."

The guy smiled. It looked psychotic. "No problem. My name's Malik."

Ok, what the fuck is this? Since Marik wasn't saying anything – he was just standing there, looking uncomfortable – I decided to step in.

I took a step closer. "And I'm Bakura, great to meet you, get your arm off my boyfriend."

He stared me right in the eye, his smile dropping slightly, but eventually did what I said.

"So, what's the deal? With your resemblance?" I didn't bother to keep my voice under control.

Malik laughed. "So you want to know? Well, I was simply intrigued beyond belief that someone had the same name as me. So naturally, I followed him, wanting to know him better. And that's when I became obsessed with him." He laughed again. "So, of course, I made myself look just like him-like the contacts?" He winked at me.

I growled. "You fucking bastard!" I aimed a punch at his face, but he saw it coming and evaded it.

"I'll do anything to be with him. You see, I've fallen in love with him."

My arm dropped. My face probably devoid itself of all emotion.

In…love?

Ignoring me, he continued. "I want to be with Marik forever. And I'll do anything to protect him."

My stomach lurched. The last sentence was the same thing Marik had said to me.

"Oh." His disgusting voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "And I'm willing to kill anyone who gets in my way."

Just like that, he walked away, leaving us alone in the hallway.

It was then that I noticed Marik was crying. Protectively, I wrapped my arms around him.

"Marik," I kept my voice soft. "Tell me right now. Him or me?"

He tightened his grip on me, and buried his tear-streaked face in my shoulder. "Idiot. You, always you."

My fingers ran through his hair. "Then we can get through this. I swear, I won't let anyone touch you."

"Stupid. I'm not the one who's in danger."

I kissed his forehead. "I'll be fine. Like I'd let that fucker get anywhere near me."

I felt him smile into my shoulder. "I love you."

Even now, though words still made me feel…well, I don't know what it is. It's a good feeling though.

"I love you too."

By now, we were probably the only people left in the school. Every move we made echoed.

"Kura…will you stay with me tonight?"

He had pulled back to look at me with his sparkling purple eyes, and I wiped a tear that was making its way to his chin.

"Do you really think I'd leave you alone with a psycho on the loose?" Besides, how am I supposed to say no to that face?

He smiled and took my hand. "I guess not."

"Damn straight."

After that, we left the school, and went to his house. This time, I noticed, there were two cars in the driveway.

"You get to meet my father today." Marik's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Hooray."

I stayed silent, and followed him into the house. The first thing I noticed was that it smelled _amazing_. We walked over to where Ishizu was standing in the kitchen. She turned to us.

"Oh, hi Bakura."

Marik ignored her, skipping straight to the point. "Can Bakura stay the night?"

She shrugged. "I'm not in charge, ask your father."

Marik sighed. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to."

She smiled. "I know. But you know, you really shouldn't talk about him like that."

Marik just mumbled something unintelligible before walking to the stairs.

I followed him to the second floor, and he knocked on the door two down from his own.

"Come in."

The voice that came from the room sounded older, with a much heavier accent than Marik had.

He opened the door slowly, and for the first time, I saw Marik's father.

He looked old, with gray hair similar to Marik's, with a short beard. He was wearing a suit, minus the jacket. His cold gray eyes glanced at me quickly, but then met his sons.

"What do you want?"

Marik fidgeted. "Can Bakura stay the night?"

He turned back to his desk. "I don't care. Do what you want."

Marik nodded, and started to shut the door.

"Marik."

He froze. "Yes?"

"Don't forget about tomorrow."

"Y-yes sir." He shut the door, making sure not to slam it.

"What's tomorrow?"

"Nothing important. It's just…my turn to make dinner."

He was lying.

"Oh, ok."

"Come on, let's go to my room."

I nodded, and followed him down the hall. When we were in his room, I made sure to shut the door securely behind us.

"We should probably do our homework. Frigging science class."

I had other ideas in mind, but I'll play along with him for now.

We laid down on the bed, dragging our bags with us. I made sure that I was practically on top of him.

"I hate science class. I mean seriously, who would want to write a paper on frigging tsunamis?"

I leaned my mouth down to his ear. "Maybe some people…find it interesting." I spoke in a low voice, something that had worked on him before.

His eyes fluttered close. "I-I guess."

I smirked, seeing that my plan was working.

I trailed my fingers down the part of his midriff that was exposed. Really, he could be such a slut sometimes…

But he was _my_ slut.

"Nngh…" Marik groaned, and my smirk became more professed.

"Maybe some people," I licked the shell of his ear. "_Like_ it."

He turned his head towards me, his eyes half lidded. "Bakura…"

I captured his mouth with mine, feeling him run his fingers through my hair. I lifted Marik into a more comfortable position so that he was straddling my waist.

He moaned through a kiss. "_Gods_, Bakura…"

I smirked, running my hands up his chest.

"Marik, Bakura! It's time for dinner!"

Shit.

We practically flew apart, so we were on opposite sides of the bed. Marik cleared his throat. "Er-Kay! We've coming!" There was silence, and then Odion's heavy footsteps retreated down the hall.

"That was…"

"Close."

"Yeah." I circled my arms around him from behind and kissed his neck. "But definitely worth it." Marik made this adorable humming noise, I suppose in agreement, and we went downstairs.

Dinner at Marik's house was again, delicious. I would know, because I ate all of it, because no one talked through the entire meal. Apparently Marik's father has that effect on people. So it was completely silent until Marik thanked Ishizu for dinner. In reply, she said "You should get some rest – for tomorrow."

He nodded. "I will."

Again with the tomorrow thing…he was definitely keeping something important from me.

We went upstairs and played video games until midnight, our homework forgotten.

"Marik, don't you need sleep? You know." I paused. "So you can make dinner," I finished dryly. He glanced at me.

"Yeah, you're right. I guess we should go to bed." I gritted my teeth. Why wouldn't he just tell me what was going on?

Marik yawned, and I took the opportunity to stick my tongue in his mouth. He gasped, pulling back slightly, but I wrapped my arms around him, trapping him there. His eyes closed again, and he closed his mouth around the wet muscle in his mouth. Smirking, I lifted him bridal style to the bed.

"You need sleep."

He started kissing my neck. "I don't…_have_ to."

"Mm, I think you do Marik." I laid down and turned my back to him. "Goodnight."

"…Fine." I could almost hear him pouting. Still smirking, I turned back to him and kissed his forehead.

"I love you."

Marik wrapped his arms around my waist. "I know. I love you too." I pulled the sheets over us and he buried his face in my neck. We fell asleep like that, not thinking about anything but ourselves.

* * *

_Click, flash._

_Click, flash._

_Click, flash._

What the hell _was_ that?

Groaning, I lifted my head, and felt Marik sit up next to me. "Ishizu? What are you…? Is that a camera? Why do you?...Aw, crap! Ishizu, give me that!"

As I listened to the one sided conversation, my eyes still closed, I understood: Ishizu had been taking pictures of us sleeping together. Which explains the camera-esque noises I heard. She might just pass it off as something we did unintentionally in our sleep, but honestly, I didn't care. Marik was the one that didn't want his family to know.

I opened my eyes fully to see Marik and Ishizu standing at the foot of the bed. Marik was holding a camera, pressing buttons on it so fast that I couldn't follow his movements. Ishizu was standing about two feet away, with the slightest hint of a smile on her face. I slid out of bed and stood next to Marik.

"Let's go eat breakfast, shall we?" Ishizu gestured towards the door. Marik threw the camera on his bed, muttering something I couldn't understand. I smirked.

"Does it really bother you that much? I mean, you deleted the pictures, right?" He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, but…" He continues his grumbling again. I sighed and followed him down the stairs. Breakfast went by uneventfully. We just talked idly about things like school. When we were all finished, Marik was rambling on about something no one cared about, so the three of us had started our own conversation. Marik was completely unaware that we weren't listening.

Just then, Marik's father came over to the table. "If you're finished Bakura, I'm going to ask you to leave. We have some things we need to take care of." I wanted to tell him that hell I was leaving, he could kiss my ass – but I didn't. I stood up.

"Right." I turned back to the table. "Thanks for the food and everything." The two older siblings smiled.

"No problem. It was great to have you over." I just nodded.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Marik." I turned my back to them.

"Wait!" Marik had jumped up out of his seat. Realizing what he had done, he began to blush. "I'll, um, walk you to the corner."

He followed me out the door, and we walked in silence until we reached the corner. I looked at him.

"Tell me what's going on." He closed his eyes.

"It's nothing. There's nothing happening."

I grabbed him and pulled him towards me, our lips crashing together, Marik gasped, and I bit down on his bottom lip, hard. He cried out, but I didn't care. I didn't stop. I shoved my tongue in his mouth, while working my hands traveled under his shirt, my thumb grazing his nipple. Marik pulled away, gasping for breath. "Bakura…"

"Tell me."

He shook his head. "I…I can't. I really wish I could, but I can't, Kura." I sighed, regaining control of myself and took a step closer to him. Trying to be gentle, I took his chin in my hand and tilted his head up until he was looking at me.

"I love you."

Marik grabbed me around the waist, and pulled me into a hug. And then, typically, he started crying. "I know. I love you too. Never leave me."

I kissed his forehead. "Why the bloody hell would you think I'd do something like that? You really are dense sometimes." I paused. "But I won't. I couldn't. I'll always be here if you need me. Always."

He lifted his head. "Promise? Even three in the morning?"

I held him tighter, never wanting to let go. "Of course. " My mouth moved next to his ear. "If it's for you, I'll do anything."

We stood there for a moment, just holding each other.

"Marik, come on!" Odion's deep voice echoed down the street.

"You better go." Marik nodded, pulling back. His eyes were red. I kissed him one more time, my lips lingering on his for a second before I moved away. "I'll see you tomorrow."

He attempted to smile before giving up and hugging me again. "I love you."

"I know. You say it a lot. Seriously, that must be the tenth time today." I pushed him away. "Go, before you get in trouble.

He nodded. "Alright. Bye Bakura."

"I'll see you."

He was the first one to walk away.

* * *

Finally done. Time: 3:30 AM. Goodnight.

The song I used in the beginning was a Vocaloid song called Imitation Black.

I think that's all I have to say…REVIEW! (Or Insane!Marik will eat Ryou.)

Oh yeah, insane!Marik originated in my new fic I just posted on here, **So Long**. So if you haven't read it yet, go do it! Reviews would be appreciated for that, as well. :3


	7. Breakthrough

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh. Or anything else.

* * *

Marik didn't come to school the next day. I deliberated leaving school several times, but finally decided I might as well stay around to get lunch, and I didn't feel like going home to deal with my father anyway. He was sure to be pissed after I didn't come home last night.

The day finally ended. After grabbing my bag I left, walking home in no big rush. It's not like I could go see Marik anyway.

I finally got home, and having nothing else better to do, glanced at my homework before discarding it into the corner of the room. I proceeded to eat a sandwich composed of bacon and ham on bread and managed to fall asleep. My dad came home at exactly 9:03 pm.

The first thing he said to me was the last thing I expected to hear from him.

"Get out."

I blinked. "Huh?"

He continued glaring at me. "You heard me. Take your shit and get out. I'm…how d'they say it…disinheriting you. I never want to see you in this house again."

I wanted to laugh at him. Because after I got over the shock of being kicked out of our "house," I realized something: I'd be perfectly fine. I had all the skills to survive on my own. But if it wasn't for me stealing all our food, he would be dead by now. I get everything we need after all; he just drinks and takes my presence for granted.

What a completely useless person.

"Fine." I grabbed my suitcase and clothes and left. Only then did I realize I had nowhere to go. There was no way I'd be able to get my own house yet, but I'd still need a place to stay permanently. I guess for tonight though, I could stay at Marik's. I doubt they would care if I stayed over one night because my father had disowned me.

I was halfway there when I saw someone half-running, half-stumbling towards me. As the person got closer, I could make out his features, and saw that it was…holy fuck, it was _Marik._ I ran ahead and caught him as he tripped again. I noticed instantly that his shirt had been replaced by bandages. There was something dark splattered over his torso and arms. It was warm, and wet…wait, _blood? _

What the hell had happened to him...?

Marik's strangled sobs echoed in the dark. Immediately, I thought of that bastard Malik.

"Marik, Marik, calm down. It'll be ok." I started rubbing circles on the unbandaged part of his back. His grip on me tightened and he buried his face into my neck. I didn't know what to do. I'd never been in this position before. So I pulled my iPod out of my pocket, the one place my father hadn't found it to sell for beer money behind my back, and put the ear buds in his ears. Scrolling through the songs, I tried to find one that wasn't rock or metal. After a while of searching, I succeeded.

_Is this a natural feeling  
Or is it just me bleeding  
All my thoughts and dreams  
In hope that you will be with me or  
Is this a moment to remember  
Or just a cold day in December?_

_I wonder, if maybe, maybe I could be a__ll you've ever dreamed, cause you are_

_Beautiful inside  
So lovely and I  
Can't see why I'd do anything without you, you are  
And when I'm not with you  
I know that it's true  
That I'd rather be anywhere but here without you_

It was only when the song ended that I realized I had been unknowingly humming along. I stopped immediately. Marik's sobbing had quieted to nearly inaudible gasps, but I could still feel the warm tears on my shoulder.

"Marik, come on. We can't stay here all night." He let go of me, and I did the same. Whatever had happened, I wasn't about to let him walk. He was bleeding enough to soak through his bandages. I wrapped my arm around his waist and half carried, half dragged him to my secret place in the woods.

…Our place.

We got there and sat on the mattress, Marik pulling himself weakly into my lap. His crying had stopped as we had neared the clearing. I wrapped my arms around him and whispered in his ear "Will you tell me what happened?"

When he finally spoke, his voice was low, and strained.

"I should've told you before. My family has a longstanding tradition called the tomb keepers initiation. Back in Egypt, a boy was chosen from the family to guard the family tomb. I got chosen this generation. Even though we're not in Egypt anymore, my-my father still made me do it. He said that it was an Ishtar family ritual that we couldn't break."

"Marik," I said. "What is this ritual?"

Pain flickered across his face and he tugged the bandages covering most of his torso loose, unwrapping them and revealing his back. I gasped in horror. His once smooth back was raw and inflamed and red with blood. Some sort of giant hieroglyph had been carved into the middle of his back.

"Holy shit, Marik…" My voice sounded distant, broken.

"That's not all." He said. "There's more. Mal-Malik was there, he had been watching the whole thing. When he saw me in pain, he broke into the house, and since he thought it was his fault, he-he…killed my father." He let out another strangled sob.

My eyes widened. "Oh my God, Marik…"

"Bakura…I'm scared. I don't know what's going to happen….What if he comes back for Ishizu and Odion? I can't lose anyone else…It was horrifying Bakura. He used a knife….right into his heart." I held him tighter as he trembled against my chest.

"It's ok…everything will be ok, don't worry."

I only wished that I could lie to both of us.

I held him close as he started to cry again.

We stayed like that for a while until his muffled sobs stilled and he fell asleep curled against my chest.

I think I got two hours of sleep.

Once or twice during the night, I heard Marik whimper or mumble something as the horrors that had filled his night visited his dreams, but he eventually settled back down, his face angelic in sleep.

I had absolutely no idea what to do next.

* * *

So….

This chapter is reaaaaaaaally short, sorry for that. I feel bad that I took so long and then all you get is this. ^^;; I really don't have an excuse for that, I just got really demotivated. But I'll try to be faster next time, promise! If anyone's still reading this….

REVIEW! (please.) X3

Song used: Anywhere but Here by SafetySuit


	8. Restart

It was deja vu, waking up there next to Marik. But this time, I was the one holding him. Apparently it had rained overnight, because we and our surroundings were soaked to the bone. I t was surprising that one of us hadn't woken up. I looked at the boy sleeping next to me. I hope he wouldn't be sick. People get colds from staying out in the rain too long.

…God, since when did I start caring about the wellbeing of others?

Marik's eyes fluttered open. "Bakura?"

"Morning, beautiful." He snorted.

"That was incredibly corny. "

"Maybe, but it's true. "

He smiled. "I love you, you damn idiot." I kissed his forehead.

"I know. So…what are we doing today?" He sighed, sitting up, and I pulled him into my lap.

"I need to go home, talk to Ishizu. Which reminds me," he said. "Why were you out last night? And why do you have all your…" His voice trailed off, and a look of comprehension crossed his face. "You ran away."

"Incorrect," I answered bluntly. "I got kicked out. He looked shocked.

"No friggin way…Why? If anything, it should've been the other way around."

"I know but…it doesn't really matter. I was going to leave soon anyway."

"It still isn't fair."

"It's fine. It is, in a way, because without me he'll be completely hopeless. But you're in a much worse boat than me."

Now that I thought about it, that was really incredible. Marik had just been tortured, his father killed before his eyes by his stalker, and he's worried about me losing the little shelter I had? These are the times when I'm reminded of just how much I love him.

"Ishizu is probably worried about you."

He smiled. "Yeah, you're probably right."

I stood up, pulling us both to our feet. "I guess we'll have to walk…sorry about that." I shook my head.

"It's fine. Not your fault. Besides, it's not a long walk."

So we set off for his house, holding hands the entire way there.

* * *

"Where have you been?! Oh god Marik, I thought you were hurt, or lost, or…or-"

"I'm fine, Ishizu."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Just…really wet." We were standing inside Marik's house. Odion was nowhere to be seen.

"What about you, Bakura? You're all wet too. I'll go get some towels-"

"Ishizu, we're fine. We're not that wet. Where's Odion?" Although I had denied her hospitality, I was really surprised by it. I'd never met someone as kind as her.

After my question, however, the older girl fidgeted. "He, um-"

Suddenly, the front door opened behind us.

"I'm back," he said grimly. "Oh, Marik, you're back too! And you brought Bakura with!" The man nodded. "I had a feeling you two would be together."

Marik blushed. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

Odion looked at him strangely. "Well, since you ran out last night mumbling his name, I could only assume."

My head snapped up to look at my boyfriend. Marik turned his head and averted my gaze. He changed the topic suddenly, looking at a manila envelope in Odion's hand.

"What's that?"

I had hadn't seen the folder before, but now my curiosity arose.

"It's…your father's will."

"Did you read it yet?" Marik asked. Odion shook his head. "I wanted to do it with everyone here. "

I opened my mouth to say I had to leave – after all, I wasn't part of this family, so I had no business being here – but Ishizu spoke before I could get anything out.

"You too Bakura. I have a feeling you have a bigger part in Marik's future than we do." She and Odion smiled. Their smiles were the ones that said 'We know something you wish we didn't.'

Well, fuck. I had decided to ignore their knowing smirks and pretend to have no idea what they were talking about, but Marik had other plans.

"What do you mean…?"

"Marik, you made it totally obvious that you two are together, I mean, you come home every day and talk about him." They st sown on the couch. "Plus, you talk in your sleep," Ishizu added. Marik blushed.

"Do not!"

"Bakura, I love you," Odion mimicked.

"Sh-shut up! I don't frigging say that!" As amusing as this was….

"Let's look at what's ion the folder," I suggested.

Ishizu nodded. "Thank you for reminding us, Bakura." Odion opened the envelope quickly and pulled the papers out. Ishizu moved closer and read over them with her older brother.

"Well?" Marik asked. "What does it say?"

Odion looked into his eyes. "Marik, he…he left you everything." Marik's eyes widened.

"You mean all of his money?"

Ishizu nodded. "Every cent."

"But…what did he leave you guys?"

"He left Odion and I with all the property and the house."

Everyone was silent.

"I can't stay here."

Odion and I looked at him, while Ishizu just gave a sad little smile. "I knew you were going to say that."

I turned to Marik. "What are you talking about?"

"You know that I can't stay here anymore. Not with him still out there somewhere."

Him? Oh right, Malik. Wait a minute, he's still out there?

"You mean you didn't call the police?"

Odion shook his head. "We didn't want the cops to get involved." What kind of lame-ass excuse is that?

"So anyway," Marik said, interrupting. "Now that I have the money to buy a house I'm going to. Or at least rent an apartment." I mean, I don't know if you want to go to college or anything." He was looking at me.

"Wait, what?" My head was spinning. What was he talking about? I looked at him again to find him blushing.

"Well, you don't have anywhere to go, so I thought…you'd want to move in with me."

"Wait," Odion interrupted. "You don't have anywhere to go?" I fidgeted. "Yeah. I'm, uh…kinda homeless." Ishizu's eyes widened.

"What!? Why didn't you tell us sooner?" You could've stayed here!"

"Well, I did have a place where I was staying up until last night. My father told me to leave and not come back."

"Which is why," Marik said. "I thought it was a good idea for us to get a house together."

Odion sighed. "Well, I'm not sure…I might miss you too much." Marik looked surprised for a second, and then he slowly smiled until I could see all his teeth. "Thanks Odion!" He got up to hug his brother. "Thank you so much. For everything, you know."

"Yeah. No problem, Master Marik." He laughed.

"I'm going to go pack," Marik said. He walked over to me. "Come on." I nodded, and I grabbed his hand before he could protest. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ishizu smile. We walked upstairs without saying anything else.

Once we were safely in his room with the door shut, I said "Marik, you don't have to do this." He turned to me, confused.

"Do…what?"

?You don't have to move out of your house and live with me just because I don't have a house H" He looked shocked. "Is that what you think? That I wasn't you to live with me because I feel bad for you?" I flinched at the tone of his voice. "I want to move in with you because I love you, goddamnit! Or haven't you figured that out buy now?" Was all of this some kind of joke to you!" I didn't even know what to say. "How could you think any of that? You…you know I love you Marik. You're the only person in the world who I can even talk to. You're practically the whole reason for my existence. I couldn't go on without you, you know that. How could you even think I didn't love you?" Marik's eyes were wide.

"I'm so sorry Kura….I was being stupid, and…" I crossed that small space between us and wrapped my arms around him.

"Me too. I was an idiot. I'm sorry, Marik." He looked up at me.

"Kiss me…" he whispered.

So I did. Our lips melted together, like they were meant to be with each other's.

"Marik," I whispered.

He looked up at me through half closed lids. "Yeah, Kura?"

"I need you…." Mariks eye's widened.

"I need you to go pack." He blinked, and then pouted. "Hmph. Fine, whatever."

I laughed, pecking him on the cheek. "Oh yeah, so what was with that 'Master Marik' thing earlier?"

A slight blush formed on Marik's cheeks. "Oh, that was just something Odion and I used to do when we were little. It was kind of like a game we played together."

"That's weird."

"Shut up and start helping me pack."

We spent almost the whole day cleaning his room. The boy had more clothes than Anzu and Mai combined. "Hey Marik?"

He turned to me. "Yeah?"

"Doesn't it take a while to find a house? I mean, we don't even know where we're going to live."

He smiled. "I have connections." I raised my eyebrows. "Oh, do you?"

"I used to hang out around people from a certain real estate agency."

"Which ones?" And why were you with real estate agents?

"The Rare Hunters." Oh, yeah, I've heard of them. Apparently they specialized in finding really nice houses and getting the price to be really cheap before you bought it.

"Ok, as long as they get us something. Preferably far enough away so that psycho can't find us." He sighed. "Yeah. That'd be nice."

"Oh, I pick up my paycheck tomorrow, so I'll quit while I'm there. I guess I'll have to find a new job when we move in."

"Ok…." And then Marik started laughing.

"Marik? What the bloody hell is so funny?" I frowned.

He stopped giggling. "Sorry. I guess I just realized that we're really going to be living together…spending my life with you….I'm just really happy."

I didn't really know what to say to that, so I hugged him. "I love you."

He smirked. "I know."

"Good, because you're stuck with me. I'll never let anyone else have you."

"I don't want anyone else. Only you." I kissed him.

"Then we won't have any problems.


	9. Renewal

Hey guys! Sorry for such a long wait. I finally got this out though, thanks to all your nice comments. Seriously, I'm surprised people still like this as much as they do! Please keep the reveiws coming though, they really inspire me to write more. You guys rock.

This was the scariest real estate agent I had ever seen.

The man who we were talking to - his name was Strings - had piercings all over his face. And the two guys at the front desk were wearing really bizarre masks. Why the hell had Marik been hanging around with these guys? Was it some sort of freakish cult? Speaking of the Egyptian, I was currently very cross with him. He was determined to buy something really big with about three bathrooms and a double garage, which was completely unnecessary since there was only two of us.

"This one just opened up." The freak slid a book to us from across the table. The page he was pointing to featured a two story house, not including the basement, with two bathrooms. The price wasn't too bad, especially not compared to some of the other numbers I'd seen that day. It made me smirk in satisfaction to think that my dad would never see numbers even a quarter of these.

Marik looked at me with big eyes. "Please, Kura?"

I sighed. "We don't need two bedrooms."

Crossing his arms, he stuck out his lower lip in a rather cute pout.

"Yes we do. If Ishizu and Odion come to visit."

Well, I suppose he did have a point there...

"...Fine. We can get the hou-"

"Yay! Thanks, Bakura!"

Seeing that we had finally made a decision, the cult-man tried to intercept. "Would you like to see it in person?"

"No," I snapped. "Just give us the damn paperwork. "

Have I mentioned that we've been here for over two hours?

"Alright, if you're sure..." He glanced at Marik for confirmation, but the blonde didn't seem to care. I scrawled my name about fifty times before passing them onto my boyfriend so he could do the same.

One argument, several phone calls, and one house key later, we were...

Still not going to our newly purchased house. We had to say good-bye to Ishizu and Odion first, and knowing Marik, there was going to be tears.

I think about life, and oh how it changes so fast

And oh how it's so hard to last here waiting for something to give

I think about time, a luxury so hard to find

And I just can't figure out why I wasted it all here without you

We pulled into the driveway, but it took us a little bit to actually get out of the car.

"You ready?"

Marik nodded, even though I'm sure he wasn't.

We got out of the car, walking up the driveway and letting ourselves in the front door. Odion and Ishizu were sitting on the couch, watching tv. Something about how the pyramids were actually brought down by aliens. They turned around though, when they heard us come in, and Odion flipped the telivision off.

"So, how'd it go," Ishizu asked. Smiling, Marik answered.

"We got a house."

The two got off the couch and came to stand with us at the entrance. Patting his brother on the back, Odion smiled. "Great. That's awesome, guys. Where is it?"

"About two hours away," I replied. "North."

"Here, I'll write down the address for you!" Marik ran over to the table, where a pad of paper was conveniently sitting. Scribbling something down, he tore the page off and handed it to his sister.

"Come visit whenever you want. Soon. Visit soon."

Ishizu smiled. "Don't worry, we will. Call us when you guys get settled in."

Marik nodded. "I will."

Odion suddenly looked at me, a strange look of determination and mischeif on his face. "You too, Bakura. After all, you are my brother-in-law."

I think Marik and I both blushed at the same time.

"O-Odion! Shut up!"

"What? It's true~"

"It is not! We're not frigging m-married!"

"Say whatever you want, but-"

Ishizu cut him off before he was able to finish his statement.

"Alright Odion, we should let them go. They have a long drive."

He sighed. "Yeah, you're right." He wrapped his arms around his little brother. "Bye, Marik. Don't do anything bad without us around, you know Ishizu will be able to tell."

My boyfriend laughed. "I won't. Promise. " They broke apart and Marik moved on to Ishizu, but I was surprised when Odion hugged me.

"See you, Bakura. Don't let him get in too much trouble."

"I, um, won't. " As much as I appreciated that Marik's family actually seemed to like me, I was still awkward with the whole 'being nice' thing. I heard Marik mumble something about "isn't my parent" before I found Ishizu hugging me, as well.

"Take good care of him. I know you will. And Odion was right, Bakura, call us when you get there."

I smiled. "I will, you really don't have to worry."

"Alright then." She released me and opened the door. "Bye!"

We smiled at them and gave our farewells before getting in the truck and Marik pulled out of the driveway, not looking back as we drove down the road.

"That was relatively easy," I commented. "I'm surprised you didn't cry."

Marik smiled. "Why would I? Sure, I'm leaving, but I'm doing it to move in with you. So I'm giving something up to get som8 much better in return."

I blinked. "Well, I'm glad I rank above your actual family." That might have only been half sarcastic...

"Actually, Odion isn't blood related to me. My mother found him abandoned one day and decided to take him in."

"Wow..." Marik had never really mentioned his mother before, except for that day we went to his house. "Marik? How did your mom die?"

His eyes narrowed. "She died...giving birth to me."

I had nothing to say. I didn't know what to say.

"I think the only reason Odion didn't hate me in the begining was because my mother told him to take care of me. He was really close to her."

"I can't imagine Odion hating you."

"I'm sure he wanted to."

"Marik...let's just forget about it."

"...ok."

I didn't feel like talking about depressing things anymore, and I couldn't handle the way Marik's voice sounded. I could tell that he blamed himself for his mother's death, and I didn't need him thinking like that. We sat in silence for a couple minutes before he spoke up.

"Hey Bakura."

"What, Marik?"

"Can we get a puppy?"

The question startled me at first, where had that come from? Then, I realized that he was waiting for an answer and quickly gave him one.

"No."

"Aww, but why, Kura?"

"I hate dogs."

"What?! How can you hate puppies?! They're so fluffy and cute!"

I smirked, and retorted with "So am I, so shut up."

Marik laughed, agreeing with me, and the subject was dropped. The rest of the ride consisted of his idiotic comments and my sarcastic responses (like most of our dialogue) such as:

"Bakura, I have to go to the bathroom."

"Hold it."

"But I reeeaaally have to go!"

"I really don't care."

"Bakura!"

"Marik, we're almost there. Hold it."

"No I can- Oh look, a gas station!"

"Marik don't you dare!"

The tires squeeled to a stop as he made a shard turn into the parking lot.

"Fuck you, Marik."

"Maybe later, I have to pee."

And so on. When we finally got there, I was ready to strangle him.

"Oh look Bakura, we're here!"

Glancing up, I saw that we were, in fact, in front of the house that was in the picture. However, there was something I had to point out.

"Yes Marik, we've arrived. Two hours later than when we should have arrived."

"So? We still got here." Normally, I enjoyed looking at Marik - I mean, he's gorgeous. But right now, there would be nothing better than slapping that easy going smile right off his face.

"Next time, I'm driving."

"Stop being a bitch and let's go inside."

I sighed, knowing this argument was lost on him, and got out of the car. Luckily, we were able to get into the house without any problems. When you walked in, there was a small staircase going up to the living room and another small one going down to the went up first, walking through the big room with couches and a TV. On one wall there was a hallway, containing four doors - two on the left, one on the right, and one on the end of the hallway. The doors to the right held a bathroom and a small guest bedroom, while the door on the left led to the master bedroom.

Our bedroom.

It was pretty empty, except for the bed on the left wall and a long desk that ran almost half the length of the wall in front of us. There were shelves and drawers built into the desk, and on the right wall hung a flat screen TV. It was a huge room...

Smirking, I said "I don't know Marik, we may need a bigger bed." The bed was, in fact, a king size.

"Frig off, Kura." He left the room and I followed him, still smirking. We went to examine the door in the back of the hallway and found that it was a closet. We were about to shut it without comment when I noticed something on the back of the closet wall.

"Hey Marik?"

"What now, Bakura?"

"Why the fuck is there a doorknob in the back of the closet?"

He peered closer and saw that I was right.

"I...don't know."

So, I did the only thing that made sense and opened the secret door in the back of our closet.

"Are those stairs?" The door revealed a pitch black space, but I could just make out stairs leading down.

"Yes Marik, they are." The statement came out almost like a question, my voice laced with confusion - this wasn't in the writeup of the house we had looked at.

"Let's go," he suggested, and I agreed. He went first, and I followed close behind him in the dark space, trailing my hand against the wall as we went. It was cold stone, so I was surprised when my hand brushed against something made of plastic. "Hold on, Marik."

It felt like...a lightswitch. I flicked it up, and the passage was suddenly flooded with light.

"Well, that makes things easier, " he mumbled. We continued down the spiral staircase until we got to the bottom, a big empty room, with a door all the way to the left.

"The basement?" Marik questioned. And I assumed he was right, it did look like a basement. I wandered over to the door and peered inside to find that it was a bathroom. "Weird place to have a bathroom," I mused. It was bigger than the one upstairs, though. Marik called me over then, pointing out something I had missed earlier - another door, on the wall opposite of the one we had come in on. Behind it there were more spiral stairs, which we went up without question. At the top there was another lightswitch, but it wasn't as big of a shock because the walls here were drywall, or something. Pulling the door open at the top of the stairs, we found ourselves in...the kitchen. When I shut the door and looked at it, it appeared to be another closet.

Wide eyed, Marik said "We have a secret passage in our house!"

I rolled my eyes, smiling a little. He was such a dork. "Yeah, if that's what you want to call it."

We spent the rest of the day unpacking until it looked like we had been living there forever. The last thing we were doing was hanging Marik's clothes in the closet, when he suddenly said "Hey Bakura, come look at this." Leaning over his shoulder (gods, he smelled good) I saw what he was holding: a photograph of a man and a woman, standing side by side. He flipped the picture over, and seeing there was writing on the back, moved it closer so we could read it. In loopy handwriting, it said 'Pegasus and Cynthia, 2001."

"These must be the previous owners of the house," Marik commented. I nodded, agreeing with him. It was weird to think that someone had been here before us, had called this house their own.

"She's very pretty," he said. I snorted.

"Yeah, so is he."

"Bakura! That wasn't nice!"

"Why not?" I snapped back. Not that I was being serious, but the guy had long silver hair. He was asking for comments like that. "Are you saying boys can't be pretty, Marik? Because I'd have to disagree."

"Of course you would, you're gay. But I never said that, anyway. I think you're pretty, so there. You're wrong." He turned away from me, but I could see a hint of a blush on his face. I rolled my eyes.

"You're so stubborn. It really is a good thing you're cute."

It was about twelve at night, and we were getting ready for bed when Marik suddenly said "Oh yeah, I made you a bank account."

Turning to look at him, I said "Why thd hell'd you do that?"

He shrugged. "Just in case you ever need it."

"But I don't have any money to put in it.

He rolled his eyes. "You didn't think I'd keep all the money for myself, did you?"

Actually, I hadn't thought about it, but I never would have expected him to do sonething like this.

"I left your account information on the kitchen table."

I tilted my head and kissed him, long and slow. "Thank you."

He wrapped him arms around me. "No problem."

It was kind of weird, sleeping with him like this. After all, the other times it had happened, it was in the woods after some dramatic event. But now we were in our bed, in our new house.

"Love you," Marik mumbled against my chest. I smiled. "I love you too."

And then, I realized we had forgotten to call Ishizu.

"Fuck."


	10. Serenity

Hey guys! You know, not one person reviewed last chapter. After such a long wait, too! Seriously, please review. It really means a lot to me when you do. And with that, here's chapter ten!

* * *

"I'm sorry!"

I twitched in irritation. Did he have to be that loud? He was sitting right next to me on the couch the gods sakes, he should know not to yell into the phone. "No, I'm really sor- Of course not! Odion! That's not what- yes, really. I swear, we just forgot!" There was a pause, and I savored the silence.

"No. yes, I'm sure. I know. Yeah, it's great! There's this really cool- huh? Oh, ok. Alright. Bye. You too. Bye."

Marik hit the end button on the phone and rested his head in my lap. "They worry too much," he commented.

I flicked his forehead. "Guess it runs in the family."

"I don't worry that much…oh yeah, we need to go grocery shopping."

"Actually, there's somewhere I have to go, so why don't we leave together?"

Marik sat up. "But how are you going to get there? We only have one car."

I rolled my eyes. "I'll walk. It's not far." A slight frown graced his face.

"Why don't you let me drop you off?"

"Because," I said, standing up. "I need the exercise. Fresh air and shit."

"Okay," he said warily. "I'll see you later then."

I reached my hand down to help him stand up, before pulling him into a quick kiss. "Yep. See you in a bit."

I watched him walk out the door before grabbing my account information off the table where it had stayed since last night, and continued out the door behind him, watching the truck pull away.

It took me fifteen minutes to walk to the bank, ten minutes to get the money out of the account (five of which were spent arguing with the bitchy receptionist), and ten more minutes to walk to the car dealers.

I spent a full hour in there.

I fucking hate car salesmen.

Thinking back to our experience getting a house, I decided that I hate any kind of salesmen.

But in the end, I walked out with a brand new, shiny purple motorcycle, for half of the original price. Seriously, who would pay that much?

When I got home after ten minutes, I parked right next to the truck and went inside where my boyfriend was waiting for me.

"Oh my gods Bakura, where have you been?! I've been waiting for ages! I thought you had died, or-"

I silenced him with a kiss.

"See, you do worry too much. Come here, there's something I want to show you." I grabbed his wrist and pulled him outside. When he saw the bike, Marik's eyes popped open.

"I- you…you bought…me…"

I rolled my eyes. "So you like it then?"

In response, he flung himself at me, nothing less of what I had expected.

"I can't believe you remembered.."

I tightened my grip on him. "Of course I did. Why wouldn't I?"

* * *

_I looked up at the car in front of us, and was actually a little amazed at what I saw. It was a truck. A rusty red pickup truck. Marik saw me staring, and frowned._

_"__What, you don't like it?"_

_"__It's just so…unfeminine."_

_"__Thanks, I think."_

_"__It doesn't fit you at all." _

_"__Oh, rea - HEY!"_

_And for the first time in a long time, I burst out laughing. "I mean, I pictured you in a convertible or something." I bet he only bought the truck because he thought it would make him look manlier. Somehow, it only ended up giving the opposite effect.  
"Actually, ever since I was little, I've wanted a motorcycle. But my dad won't let me get one."_

* * *

"Thank you," he murmured. He pressed his lips to mine, and we slowly moved in sync with each other. Suddenly, he thrusted his hips out, and I let out a low groan.

"Maybe we should go inside."

He nodded. "Yeah…I think we should…"

I scooped him up, carrying him bridal style all the way to our room.

It took no time for us to get undressed, and soon our hips were moving together, doing things that resulted in both of us becoming short of breath. The sheets were clenched beneath Marik's fist, and as we finished, I saw his grip slowly loosen. Both of our bodies relaxed into the bed, and I tilted his head up for a kiss.

"You didn't tell me you went to the store to buy lube."

A deep blush covered his face. "Well, I just didn't feel like telling you."

"It was your first time, and you didn't even cry. I'm rather impressed."

The blush stayed, but the expression on his face slowly changed from one of embarrassment to shock. I tilted my head in confusion. What was his problem now?

"So…this wasn't your first time then?"

Oh, shit. With the determined stare he was giving me, I had a feeling he wasn't going to let this go easily.

I rolled over, propping my hands behind my head. "Maybe not. So what?"

For a minute, he looked hurt, but the face of determination was back in a second.

"Tell me who."

I sighed. "I don't know, Marik. No one important. I don't even remember their names."

"Their?! More than one?!"

Getting irritated now, I rolled to face him again. Looking him dead in the eye, I said "Yes Marik, more than one. Whores. It was no big deal."

He faltered, looking down. "So, no one…"

"No one what?" I prompted.

"Now one….like me?"" He raised his head, letting me look into those violet eyes.

"Of course not, don't be stupid. You know you're the only person I've ever loved."

"Okay. Thanks, Kura."

"There's nothing to thank me for."

With that, we both closed our eyes and fell asleep.

Hamburgers.

I smelled hamburgers.

The scent was enough to rouse me from my sleep, and I opened my eyes to Marik in a pink dress.

….

Wait, what?

I sat up and focused more on what I was looking at. Oh, it wasn't a dress; it was an apron.

Still girly as hell, though. I snorted. "Nice."

Marik crossed his arms. "Shut up Kura. I wasn't exactly my first choice, I found it here. I didn't think you would wake up…"

I smirked. "Well, you shouldn't assume things like that. The smell of meat always gets me up." Marik looked surprised for a minute, as if he had just remembered something. "Oh yeah, I made dinner."

I got out of bed. "I know," I said, smacking him upside the head. "That's what woke me up, remember?" The started yelling something at me, but I was already out in the hall. The closer I got to the kitchen, the stronger the smell became. When I finally reached the table, there were five burgers on a plate - three for me, two for him. The golden haired boy appeared behind me. "You know, you can't taste it just by looking at it."

Scowling, I sat down and took a bit of the sandwich. Surprisingly, it was really good. Like, really, really good.

"Holy shit Marik, you made this?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I made the burger from scratch too, but I bought the rolls…"

I swallowed. "This is amazing."

He blushed. "It's no big deal."

"No, seriously. This is the best burger I've ever had."

He smiled, obviously pleased with himself. "Thanks."

We finished dinner quickly. As Marik was doing dishes, the phone rang, so I walked over and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hi Bakura. It's Ishizu."

"Oh, hi. What's up?"

"Odion and I were just thinking it would be nice to see you guys. He misses Marik already, but doesn't want to admit it."

"Tch, figures. Well, do you want to come up here? Or should we come to you?"

"Actually, would it be okay if you came to our house? Marik forgot a couple things that we want to give to him."

"Yeah, no problem. Figures he would. We'll be there around lunch then, tomorrow. Is that good with you?"

"That sounds great. We'll see you then."

"Alright, see ya."

"Bye Bakura, love you."

""Wha-umm, ok. Bye."

I slammed the phone down and felt the blood rush to my face.

Marik turned around. "Was that my sis- Bakura, what's wrong? Your face is all red!"

Dammit, it figures he would notice."Nothing! She said she wants us to come down tomorrow."

He ignored me, though, and kept pursuing my stupid blushing face. "What did she say? Was she mean to you? Oh Ra, did she make a sexual joke?"

"No, Marik, nothing like that, stupid! She just said…"

"What?"

"She just said she loved me."

I turned away from him, crossing my arms across my chest. I could feel Marik looking at me, and he did so for a good moment before bursting out laughing.

"It's not funny!"

"You got all worked up over that?"

"I just wasn't expecting it, okay?"

Marik wiped at his eyes and grabbed my hand, linking our fingers together.

"Of course she would say that. After all, you guys are family."

"If you want to put it that way. Look, just leave it. It's not as if I'm exactly used to hearing it. Besides you, no one's said that to me in two years."

He hesitated. "Bakura…"

Shit. Here he goes again.

"Will you tell me about your mom?"

I sighed. "Come one." I pulled him towards the stairs and he followed me up into the living room. We sat side by side on the couch and he wasted no time getting comfortable, resting his head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around him and took a breath.

"Someone shot her. She owned a clothing store - she liked to make dresses. She was outside putting things on display, and was hit in a drive by shooting. Hit her right above the ear. That was when my dad started drinking."

I smiled. "I used to think she was the most amazing person ever."

Marik looked at me. "But she isn't anymore? Or do you just use past tense because she passed away?"

"No," I clarified. "I met someone better."

"What?!' He looked shocked. "Who?"

I rolled my eyes, and as an answer, firmly pressed my lips against his. "Answer your question."

He cleared his throat. "Oh. Right. Well, I'm glad I rank above your actual family."

I smirked and rolled my eyes. "Mhm."

Come to think of it, that was the second time he had quoted me. If he keeps up like this, I'll just have a parrot for a boyfriend. My thoughts were interrupted by a loud yawn coming from next to me.

I glanced at him. "We can go to bed if you're that tired."

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm sleepier than I thought."

We both stood up, but before he could go anywhere I scooped him up bridal style, making him yelp in surprise.

"K-Kura! What the hell are you-"

I cut him off, taking his lower lip in between mine. Breaking apart after a minute, I moved my mouth to his ear. "I love you."

He grinned and wrapped his arms around my neck. "I know."

We never made it to the bedroom.

* * *

Well, that was that! I know it was pretty short, but a chapter is still a chapter! I feel like they kiss alot. What do you think? Good or bad? Let me know in a review! Thanks to all the people who are still reading!


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